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- Herausgeber: The O'Brien Press
- Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
- Sprache: Englisch
'Rugby? Here in Ballyknockshinny? Sure no one would take us seriously,' said Fiona. A rugby club is her friend Kevin's idea to bring fun to their little town that summer. All the kids pitch in and it's not long before the Bally K Foxes are up and running with everyone catching the rugby bug. But there's a shadow looming over the town – from the abandoned factory. What happened there? And why won't their parents talk about it? The more everyone warns them to stay away, the more the friends want to solve the mystery … even if it means risking the club they've worked so hard to set up.
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Seitenzahl: 186
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025
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1
Contents
Dedication
To Sheepy and May Lee,
friends across the ocean.4
Acknowledgements
Thanks as always to Martha, Jack, Lucy and Billy, and to my mother, brothers and sister for all their unfailing support. Thanks also to all at O’Brien Press, especially my brilliant editor, Helen Carr, who makes all my books better.6
Chapter 1
KEVIN was never the one to come up with good ideas. But the idea he had one summer Saturday morning on the banks of the River Wildwater was better than any the rest of his pals had ever had.
They met up most mornings on the summer holidays to kick ball, hang around the shops, or ramble up the riverside past the old factory in pursuit of adventure. They rarely found any, of course, but it was always tiring work so they took plenty of breaks to lie around and discuss what was happening in their world.
‘I was up too early today,’ said Fiona. ‘Those birds are very annoying with their stupid singing.’
‘Yeah, they woke me up too,’ nodded Kevin. ‘But I was sort of glad they did. I got up and stuck on the sports channels to see what was going on and got hooked into this big rugby match between New Zealand and South Africa. It was amazing stuff, loads of tries – those big lads really can move – and the All Blacks won it by two points in the end.’
‘I never worked out how they count the scores in rugby,’ said Emma. ‘It seems a bit random.’8
‘Nah, it’s easy enough’ Noel replied. ‘You’ll get the hang of it.’
‘It got me thinking though,’ said Kevin, ‘has anyone here ever heard of anyone our age playing rugby?’
The rest of his friends shrugged or shook their heads.
‘I’d love to give it a go,’ Kevin went on. ‘But there’s no rugby club around here – the nearest is Killycormac, and that’s twenty kilometres away.’
He paused, sighed and voiced the idea that changed their summer: ‘So, it set me thinking … why don’t we set up our own club?’
Now, to be fair to Noel, Fiona and Emma, nobody actually laughed out loud at Kevin’s brainwave. But the way they looked at each other and smirked, and raised their eyes up to heaven, no one was convinced. At first.
‘Rugby? Here in Ballyknockshinny? Sure no one would take us seriously,’ said Fiona.
‘Ballyknockshinny RFC,’ chuckled Noel. ‘You’d struggle to fit that across the back of a shirt, let alone on a crest!’
‘Ah, forget all that, it would be a bit of fun to have our own club, wouldn’t it?’ said Kevin. ‘I’m tired of football, and the GAA club just isn’t the same since that new coach arrived.’
‘Yeah, you’d get a fair few people interested who 9can’t stand that lad,’ agreed Fiona.
‘Where would we play?’ asked Emma, interrupting her younger sister. ‘The GAA club would hardly let us use their pitches?’
‘No chance,’ said Kevin.
‘I could ask Dad,’ said Noel, ‘he has a spare field facing the road that he has no use for. He was talking about selling it but he might let us use it.’
Kevin grinned. ‘Great to see the three of you starting to come around to the idea. That would be good if you could ask your dad, Noel, and see if it’s a runner at all?’
‘But where would we start?’ asked Emma. ‘None of us know anything about rugby, we don’t even have a ball.’
‘We could stick an ad up in Mikey’s shop,’ said Fiona. ‘People are always looking for things there – babysitters, lawnmowers, someone to teach them Spanish. Sure, an ad looking for people interested in rugby wouldn’t be out of place.’
‘Good idea,’ said Kevin. ‘I’ll organise that, and then I’ll head down to the library to see if they have anything on starting a rugby club.’
Chapter 2
Kevin spent ages working out what to write on the advert for Mikey’s window. He eventually decided on:
Ballyknockshinny
NEW RUGBY CLUB IN OUR TOWN
Looking for players, grounds and helpers
Contact Kevin Dunlea
He decided it was best not to put a phone number on the notice, mainly because he hadn’t got a mobile and his mother mightn’t like it if he gave out her number.
‘Sure, everyone knows me,’ he said to himself. ‘And we can put up more posters once we have a ground organised.’
In the corner shop, Mikey took the notice from him and smiled. ‘Rugby, is it?’ he asked. ‘Haven’t heard of much of that going on around here for a long time. Though I suppose there’s a lot of interest in what Ireland are doing – the pub was packed out for the Ireland match at the weekend.’11
‘Oul’ lads in a pub wouldn’t be much use to us,’ replied Kevin. ‘At least not until we need a few supporters.’
‘Well, I’ll stick this in the window and spread the word around. I love a bit of rugby myself, let me know when you get going and we could give you a bit of sponsorship maybe.’
Kevin thanked him and left with a new bounce in his step, suddenly excited that his idea was starting to take shape.
Down in the town library, he asked the librarian, Lucy, if she had any books on rugby.
‘We have indeed,’ she replied with a grin as she checked her computer screen. ‘There are player biographies, novels, history books and a couple of “how to” guides. They’re all on the shelf beside the wall, there,’ she pointed.
Kevin picked out the books that looked like they might be useful, but he took a couple of the novels and biographies back to the counter too.
‘Can I borrow these please,’ he asked.
‘Of course,’ Lucy replied. ‘You’re certainly throwing yourself into the rugby big time.’
Kevin grinned. ‘Yes, we’re hoping to start up a club in town,’ he added. ‘But we have to learn a bit about it first.’12
He tucked the books under his arm and left the library, heading back home along Connolly Street.
‘Hey, Dunlea! What are you doing reading books on the school holidays?’ came a roar from across the street.
Standing outside the hamburger restaurant was a group of boys, the comment coming from a short, sturdy lad wearing a county GAA shirt, Marty Kane.
Kevin shrugged and kept going, ignoring more sneaky digs coming from Kane and the others, who were the most feared gang of bullies in their school.
He hurried his pace and only relaxed when he turned the corner into the road on which his family lived.
He went around the back of the house and let himself into the kitchen where his mother was drinking tea and reading the newspaper.
‘Hello, Kevin, what did you get up to today?’ she asked with a smile as he filled a glass of water from the tap and sat down at the table.
‘We had good fun up the river,’ he told her. ‘Just sitting having a laugh with Emma, Fiona and Noel. And I had a good idea too.’
‘And what was that?’ she asked. ‘Are you setting up a book club?’ She gestured to the stack of volumes Kevin had brought from the library.
Kevin laughed.13
‘No, not yet anyway. But we are talking about starting a rugby club in the town. What do you think?’
Kevin’s mam looked a bit taken aback. ‘Rugby? Is that not very rough and dangerous?’ she asked.
‘Ah, I don’t think so,’ her son replied. ‘The huge men on the television go at it hard but kids our age won’t do much damage. We’ll make sure we get plenty of coaching on how to do it right anyway.’
Mrs Dunlea didn’t look convinced as she sipped her cup of tea.
‘And where are you going to play this rugby, not the old ground?’ she asked.
‘Old ground? Where’s that? No, Noel thinks his dad will give us the lend of a field,’ he replied.
‘Lovely! I hope you get out your shovels and tackle those cow pats before you start bringing home your shirts and shorts for me to put in the laundry,’ she chuckled.
Chapter 3
As he strolled back from the riverbank that morning, Noel thought about how he would approach asking his father to allow the rugby club to take over his front field. His father enjoyed sport, and always encouraged Noel and his big sister in the various games they took part in. But farming was his life and he might not easily part with a field, for however long the new club might need it.
As he neared their home, Noel heard a beep from a car coming up behind him. In the passenger seat sat his sister who made a face as the car passed Noel. He waved back and watched as it pulled into the farmyard. Out jumped his sister, and the driver, a curly-haired young man, and walked back towards Noel.
‘Hi brud,’ said Anna. ‘This is Hugh. He’s in my class in college.’
‘You must be Noel?’ asked the newcomer, ‘unless you have another brother called Brud?’
‘No, just the one, luckily,’ answered Anna with a grin. ‘But he’s not too bad.’
‘Hi,’ said Noel. ‘Nice to meet you. Are you staying long?’15
Hugh laughed. ‘As long as you put up with me, I suppose. Your parents have invited me to stay for the weekend so hopefully I’ll last that long.’
‘As long as you’re nice to Noel you’ll do fine,’ said Anna. ‘He’s his mammy’s pet and basically runs the house. Keep on his good side and you can stay till Christmas.’
Noel laughed. ‘As long as you’re available to kick a few balls in the yard I’ll let you stay.’
‘Fair enough,’ said Hugh. ‘But I better warn you – I’m more likely to throw a ball around than kick it. I’m a rugby lad myself.’
Noel’s eyes brightened. ‘Really? We’re thinking of setting up a rugby club in the town. We could sign you up.’
‘Steady on,’ said Hugh, ‘I’m already signed up to my college team, and to my club back in Dublin. But tell me more when you get your club set up.’
‘When did this happen?’ asked Anna. ‘Is it another one of your hare-brained ideas that will last a week, like the hamster breeding and skateboarding?’
‘No,’ snapped Noel. ‘We’re all up for it and we’ll make it happen.’
‘So, when did this start?’ asked Anna.
‘Eh, just this morning,’ replied Noel. ‘But we have 16loads of plans. I’m going to ask Dad can we play in the front field,’ he pointed out the piece of land he hoped would become a rugby pitch.
Hugh peered across the ditch at the unremarkable field covered in bumps and weeds, with a small shed in the corner.
‘Well, it’s not exactly the Aviva Stadium and those changing rooms don’t look great,’ he smiled, ‘but with a bit of hard work you could get it up to standard. It’s the right shape anyway.’
Noel smiled. ‘That’s great,’ he replied. ‘Maybe you could become our manager or something?’
‘Ah now, hang on,’ said Hugh. ‘I just said it’s the right shape. I’ve a lot on with college and rugby and your sister, I’m not sure I’d have time to manage your team.’
Noel looked from Hugh to his sister and back again. ‘Ah, so that’s the story. You spilt the beans there, Hugh,’ he said.
Anna blushed and glowered at Noel. ‘You say nothing to Mam and Dad, now,’ she snapped. ‘I’ll tell them in my own good time.’
‘OK, I’ll say nothing,’ he replied, and turned to Hugh. ‘It looks like we might be seeing a bit more of you around here. You might even have a bit of time to spend on Ballyknockshinny rugby football club.’
Chapter 4
Emma and Fiona chatted all the way home about Kevin’s idea.
‘We could definitely get about ten girls in my class who would give it a go,’ said Emma, reeling off a list of names.
‘And I know four or five in Fourth – Fifth after the summer holidays – who would join too,’ added Fiona, who was a year below her sister in school.
‘I wonder will it be mixed teams, or girls only?’ said Emma.
‘We’ll have to find out if we’re going to play in competitions,’ said Fiona. ‘But some of them might prefer if it was just girls.’
The girls lived with their parents and little brother Tom in a cottage on the fringes of the town. When they reached their home, Tom was in the garden kicking a football against the side of the shed.
‘Hey Tom, is that another new ball?’ asked Fiona. ‘Cool colour.’
‘Yeah, I have seventeen balls now in my collection,’ he replied.18
‘SEVENTEEN!’ said Emma. ‘But you can only play with one at a time. Unless you’re playing a giant game of kick snooker.’
‘That’s a good idea,’ said Tom. ‘Let me get the rest of them and we can try that,’ he added.
Within seconds he had disappeared inside the shed, emerging with an armful of balls he spilled out on to the lawn. Two more visits and his full collection lay on the grass.
Emma stooped to pick up one of the balls.
‘Where did you get this one?’ she asked.
‘The rugby one? Dad got me that when we were up in the Aviva last year,’ he replied. ‘It’s the odd one out – and won’t be much good for the kick snooker either.’
‘Can I borrow it?’ Emma asked. ‘We might bring it down to show the rest of them – we’re setting up a rugby club and we have to start somewhere.’
Tom nodded and went back to experimenting with his new sport, and the girls headed for their bedroom.
Fiona picked up the tablet from the desk under the window and switched it on.
‘We have to find out how to go about all this,’ she said. ‘Who do we ask can we play other teams? Is there a competition? Does it cost money?’
‘I’d take your time with that sort of stuff, Fi,’ said 19Emma. ‘We’ve just got our first rugby ball, and that’s it. We’re a long way from playing matches.’
‘I suppose you’re right,’ said Fiona, switching her pursuit to YouTube.
She flicked around the video site, looking for videos explaining the laws of rugby. ‘We need to find really simple ones to help us get started,’ Emma said.
Fiona spent ages on the screen, chuckling away at some cartoon kiwis learning to play in New Zealand, before finally finding a series of short films that explained the basics.
‘I’ve been checking out some club colours,’ said Emma. ‘We’ll need to have a really cool shirt to get some kids to join us.’
‘And what are you thinking?’ asked Fiona.
‘I was thinking about the colours of the rainbow, but not in stripes – in a check,’ she replied, showing her sister her doodles.
Fiona’s face turned indigo, or maybe violet. Whichever colour it was, she wasn’t happy with the new look at all.
Chapter 5
‘Wow, “Ballyknockshinny rugby football club” would definitely fill up a line on my CV,’ laughed Hugh.
‘Are you soft in the head?’ asked Anna. ‘This is never going to happen.’
‘It will too,’ snapped Noel, annoyed with his sister’s lack of support for the plan. ‘I’ll go and find Dad to get it moving,’ he added as he stomped off towards the cowshed where his father was cleaning machinery. The family dog, Hurley, raced up to him and licked his hand.
‘Howya, Noel. Who was that car that pulled into the yard there?’ his father asked, as the boy stopped to rub the dog’s back.
‘It was Anna and her new fella,’ he answered.
‘Is that that Hugh lad? From Dublin? She never said anything about him being her fella,’ his father replied.
‘Well, I haven’t a clue,’ said Noel, ‘but he seems a nice lad all the same. He plays a bit of rugby, which is why I came down here to see you.’
His father looked puzzled.
‘Rugby?’ he muttered.21
‘Yeah, rugby,’ replied Noel. ‘A few of us were saying how we’d like to give rugby a go, but there’s no club within twenty kilometres of us. So, we thought we’d set up our own team.’
‘That’s a great idea,’ said his dad, ‘but it seems like an awful lot of work. Have you enough players? Where would you find a coach?’
‘We think most of the kids in our class would give it a go, and there’s two other schools in the town and two others round about us, so we should be OK. And Anna’s new boyfriend says he’ll be our manager.’
‘That was quick,’ said his father. ‘But where would you play? Not the old place?’
‘Old place?’ asked Noel. ‘No, I wanted to talk to you about the front field. The one you were talking about selling.’
‘Yessssssss,’ said his dad, carefully.
‘Well, Hugh reckons it’s the right shape and would be perfect for a rugby pitch. He thinks the shed could make great changing rooms too.’
‘Hold your horses now,’ said his father. ‘So, you’re saying you want to take over the front field for this new rugby club?’
‘Please,’ said Noel. ‘You’re not using it for anything are you? I promise we’ll fix it up and keep it tidy.’22
Noel’s father took off his cap and scratched his head. ‘Well, you’re right that I haven’t used that field for a long time and no one wants to buy it… I’ll have to have a chat with your mother before I decide on that. But it would be nice to see it put to good use – and you’d have to call it after me – Pender Park!’
Noel laughed and thanked his dad before running back to the house with Hurley trotting by his side.
Chapter 6
That evening, the four friends met for what they called a ‘sundown supper,’ a bag of chips shared between them on the bench just outside the girls’ school.
‘Sounds like we’ve all made big progress,’ said Emma. ‘We have a pitch, a ball, a jersey design, some books and a load of videos. All we need now are some players.’
‘Two lads called to my door just before I came out,’ said Kevin. ‘They said they’d seen the ad in the shop. They’re sure they can get a few more to play.’
‘Maybe we should organise a training session or something,’ suggested Noel.
Emma frowned. ‘It’s way too early for that. We probably need to get the pitch tidied up first. From what you say it’s very bumpy and covered in weeds.’
‘Yeah, but if we can get a few boys and girls signed up, they can help us with that,’ said Kevin.
The four decided that was a great idea and they set off towards Noel’s house to check out the pitch.
‘Do you have a lawn mower?’ asked Fiona. ‘Or will we have to cut it all with a hand shears?’
‘There’s a mower in one of the sheds,’ said Noel. ‘We had 24a lawn out the back but it’s been paved over for a few years. I’m more worried about gathering up all the stones and getting it rolled.’
The first sight of their new ground was a bit of a shock for the other three. The grass was knee deep across the whole field, with hundreds of weeds springing up everywhere.
‘And that’s supposed to be our clubhouse?’ said Fiona, pointing at the shack.
‘Well, it does need a bit of work, but if we get enough players in to help, we’ll get it sorted in no time.’
The four wandered around the field, testing the ground and plucking a few of the weeds as they went.
‘One good thing is that it’s pretty flat,’ said Kevin. ‘It will be a lot of work to make it right but I can see it taking shape.’
‘The first job will be to go through the field and take out any stones. Then we cut down the big weeds and we can get the mower at it then,’ said Noel.
‘OK, so I suppose we’d better put another ad up looking for volunteers,’ said Emma.
Kevin nodded. ‘I’ll get that sorted first thing in the morning. Will I tell them all to meet down here at, say, two o’clock?’
The word spread quickly around the town, and seventeen 25boys and girls turned up next day, all of them from the local schools and in class with the four organisers.
‘Will we be playing on that?’ asked Theo, one of Kevin’s friends.
‘No!’ laughed Noel. ‘We need to take all the stones and weeds off it, and then we’ll cut the grass. It won’t take too long if we all work together.’
